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Humanists support refugee children at the U.S. border

Humanist Crisis Response, a joint program of Foundation Beyond Belief and the American Humanist Association, is launching a drive to raise funds for the legal representation of the more than 50,000 child refugees who have fled poverty and violence to reach the southern border of the United States over the last few months.

While many organizations have focused on providing food, shelter, and other basic needs for the refugee children, little attention has been paid to getting them the legal help they need to navigate an immigration system they don't understand. KIND and The Florence Immigration and Refugee Rights Project have offices in Texas, Arizona, and California and are already set up to provide this aid, but they need the resources to handle the sudden influx of new refugees.

The overwhelming majority of these child refugees are from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and the conditions they left for their dangerous journey to the United States are marked with violence, poverty, and instability. For young girls, especially, sexual violence is a major driving factor. An estimated 86% of them have no one to advocate on their behalf during immigration hearings.

"As this crisis has unfolded, it has become clear that the major need for these children is not food and shelter but legal advocacy to protect their basic rights," said Dale McGowan, executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief. "No child should meet a national immigration system alone. KIND and The Florence Project are doing brilliant work to ensure that they are not alone, and the humanist community is proud to support them."

"This campaign is an opportunity for humanists to put into practice our values of justice and human rights and to ensure that vulnerable children receive the legal representation that they need," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association.